Beach bathrooms tank on cleanliness

Tobias Hartwig, 18, of Essen, Germany, enters a men's room at Strand Beach in Dana Point. Hartwig, who is vacationing in the United States for three months, says he found the bathroom to be pretty standard as far as beach facilities go, but a little darker than he's used to. JOSHUA SUDOCK , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

It’s a relief to come across the rare bathroom with individual stalls, functioning toilets and no toilet paper stuck to a soggy floor. More common, it seems, are bathrooms that tank in every category, where maintenance crews can barely get a handle on the mess.

Take Tobias Hartwig’s experience. Hartwig knows his stuff: he’s been to beaches in Cuba, Australia and Egypt.

For three months, the German teen and his girlfriend have set their eyes on California’s coastline. Their dream: absorb as much of the California lifestyle as they can and relax and swim at as many beaches as possible.

With multimillion-dollar homes just a stone’s throw away at Strand Beach in Dana Point, Hartwig was a bit surprised when he went to use the restroom. It was dark, it stank, and one of the toilets was completely clogged.

Reality behind the stall door clashed with the pristine beach beyond. Hartwig discovered that to brave beach bathrooms, you need a stiff backbone.

“A lot of people don’t take the time to clean up after they use it,” he said. “I’m not easily disgusted. It’s just a normal public bathroom.”

Hartwig has seen better – and worse. In Hong Kong, bathrooms are cleaned around the clock to the point of sparkling. In Cuba, where temperatures often soar to more than 100 humid degrees, bathrooms fester.

So what makes for a clean bathroom? According to county sanitation experts, it’s simple.

Soap, warm water, hand towels, no litter on the floor, working toilets, sinks.

“We look at the walls and floors and ceilings, the toilets. We flush the toilets and the urinals to make sure they’re working properly,” said L.A. County Environmental Health Services Manager Aura Wong, whose department inspects public restrooms at restaurants, swimming pools and other facilities, though beach bathrooms fall under the jurisdiction of the cities, counties and state agencies that manage the beaches.

How much cleaning and maintenance a given bathroom needs depends on its usage. Logging who has cleaned and when is among the most effective ways to ensure cleaning actually happens, said Orange County’s director of environmental health, Denise Fennessy.

“If you designate and make sure someone is aware it’s their responsibility, they’re more likely to own it and take responsibility,” she said.

For public restrooms in facilities – be they beaches, restaurants, public pools or jails – statewide, there is no single set of standards, Fennessy said. Regulators have considered rules, but so far haven’t implemented any. No one can decide who’s responsible, said Fennessy, whose inspectors examine restaurant and other public restrooms.

Differentiating a clean bathroom from a dirty one doesn’t take a rocket scientist.

“We’re looking at functioning toilets and warm water and soap and some way to dry your hands, and general cleanliness,” Fennessy said. “If the hand sink is not functional, if there’s no soap, that’s a problem. And of course if the toilet is not functioning properly and the plumbing is in disrepair and leaking all over the place.”

San Clemente Pier missed the memo on that one. On a recent day, multiple stalls in the women’s bathroom were out of order, and the stench of human waste permeated the building. Feces flooded one toilet.

After a trip to the bathroom, Julie Quintana, from Rialto, called it “atrocious.” A regular beach user, Quintana flirts with dehydration rather than be forced to use the bathroom.

“During my stay here, I don’t allow my little girl or myself to drink too much liquid … water, soda or anything ... because of the restroom condition. I’d rather not use the restroom and wait to get back on the train,” the 41-year-old said.

The city, which has faced scrutiny for failing to keep bathrooms clean and functioning, said it cleans them three times a day during the summer, but – stuff happens. With $20,400 of city money devoted to cleaning, scrapping together the extra money for additional maintenance is a challenge, according to city officials.

Though O.C. beaches get a bad rap among beachgoers, L.A. County beaches suffer an even worse image issue.

Benjamin Gomez, 27, of Chino didn’t seem too miffed by an overflowing sink and dampened floor at the San Clemente Pier men’s bathroom, especially given conditions in L.A.

“I’ve seen worse,” he said. “I guess I’ve seen a lot of really bad beach bathrooms … down in L.A., Venice and that area.”

Venice residents don’t dispute that the situation there is bad. With the popular boardwalk and 16 million tourists flocking there every year, keeping up with bathroom demand is challenging.

“On any warm weekend, a minimum of 25 people are seen waiting in line at any hour,” said Linda Lucks, a longtime Venice resident. “Men often lose patience and find an alley or someone’s fence to pee on, especially when drinking. I’ve lived adjacent to the boardwalk for over 40 years and I know.”

The six public restroom locations along the beach aren’t enough, said Venice resident Suzanne Thompson, especially since they’re not open 24 hours a day and are sometimes out of service.

“They’re not maintained; half the time they’re closed,” she said. “People feel like that’s where the homeless hang out, or drug addicts. It’s not just the homeless or transients using the restrooms.”

Santa Monica’s bathrooms just north along the beach are far superior, said Thompson – a refrain echoed by other beach users.

Santa Monica finished refurbishing its bathrooms in 2011 and won an award from the American Public Works Association.

It wasn’t dirtiness or unsanitary conditions that spurred the bathroom makeover, however. Rather, the California Department of Parks and Recreation faced a class-action lawsuit over accessibility for disabled people. Instead of installing the bare minimum of compatibility features, architects built a bathroom with images showcasing Santa Monica’s history and included facilities like outdoor showers, walls to lean your surfboard against, seating and footwashes.

But such modern facilities are the exception, not the rule. And with bathrooms on the beach generally atrocious, many beachgoers use the sea in lieu of the loo.

Sixty-two percent of people recently surveyed by the toilet paper company Charmin said they’d rather use the ocean as a latrine than the latrine itself.

With disgust levels high, some have resorted to extreme tactics – like Stacey Badawi, who was on a jog on a recent day with her girls Bella, 4, and Bailey, 2. Sometimes, that means urinating on the side of the road rather than in the toilets at Huntington State Beach. Other times, it means holding her girls over the toilet, their feet balancing on her thighs as they relieve themselves.

“I’m holding my girls over a potty, hoping that it gets in there and not all over me – it doesn’t usually happen that way,” admitted the Huntington Beach resident.

Related Links

Tobias Hartwig, 18, of Essen, Germany, enters a men's room at Strand Beach in Dana Point. Hartwig, who is vacationing in the United States for three months, says he found the bathroom to be pretty standard as far as beach facilities go, but a little darker than he's used to. JOSHUA SUDOCK , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A bank of restrooms at Huntington State Beach are seen in June. JOSHUA SUDOCK , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Beachgoers wait for an open restroom at Strand Beach in Dana Point on Monday. Searching for a clean beach bathroom can be a hassle for many. JOSHUA SUDOCK , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A toilet in men's restrooms south of the pier in San Clemente is surrounded by water and has no door. MATT MASIN , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A sink is clogged and overflowing in the restrooms south of the pier in San Clemente. MATT MASIN , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Restrooms at Doheny State Beach. MATT MASIN , STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Restrooms at Doheny State Beach. <137,2014/07/11,Ric Sanchez2>///ADDITIONAL INFORMATION :6/<137><137,2014/07/11,Ric Sanchez1>29/14 beachbathrooms.0703.mm - MATT MASIN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER<137> MATT MASIN, MATT MASIN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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